Los Angeles is full of people with money. But few have as intriguing a profile as Stephen Bing: Hollywood producer, benefactor of environmental and Democratic political causes, Rolling Stones fan (and friend of Mick Jagger) and, as of this fall, the single largest contributor to a ballot initiative anywhere in the country -- ever.
So it was only fitting that Chad Griffin, the campaign manager for that initiative, Proposition 87, would stand on a ballroom stage at the Regent Beverly Wilshire, thanking staffers, volunteers and supporters Tuesday night, and singling out Bing as "the bravest of us all."
Not that he was there to hear it. Although he pumped nearly $50 million into what turned out to be a losing campaign, Bing did not attend the election night party. Or a Proposition 87 event in Koreatown last week. Or a get-together at the Westside Democratic Party headquarters. He even passed on a Brad Pitt appearance on behalf of the initiative.
He leaves it to others to muse on his motivations. The search for Stephen Bing seems to lead to anyone but Stephen Bing.
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The story goes that Bing, now 41, inherited his wealth -- a reported $600 million -- at 18. The source of that money was a family real estate fortune established by Bing's grandfather, Leo Bing. (Bing's middle name is Leo) The family has a history of being philanthropic, and the Bing name graces art museums and concert halls across the state.
But the grandson has not embraced the publicity that typically comes with such philanthropy. Indeed, if Bing gets a whiff of the press nearby, he vanishes. The few recent pictures of him snapped by news photographers capture his reluctance. He looks like a reticent high school boy -- despite the close cropped gray hair -- with hands jammed into the pockets of his jeans, his mouth an awkward cross between a grimace and a perfunctory smile.
None of that deters him from writing extraordinarily large checks to causes he believes in. Proposition 87 would have taxed companies extracting oil in California and set aside that money to fund development of alternative sources of energy. It lost by 9 percentage points in Tuesday's election.
Bing was deeply involved in the campaign. He got movie stars to make public appeals for the proposition. He rubbed elbows with young staffers over pizza at Friday staff meetings and weighed in on campaign strategy.
